I am torn on this Pellet Smoker business!!!

[berettafan]

As some may know I've recently purchased a very small pellet smoker. LOVE it. it's not perfect (sometimes needs to be 'started' twice) but I've fit as much as 4 racks of ribs in it at once and it really does open up a whole new world of cooking for me.

On to my conundrum. Being a guy I want to step up my game a bit and have room for even MORE food on this thing. Particularly multi part meals (meat, veggie, beans, etc). I'm sold on the pellet method for sure. I'd like two shelves with enough depth to set a rack of ribs front to back. Easy firepot cleanout would be a plus also. I've found it's not entirely fun having to pull the grates, shields and diffuser out to vacuum the ash every other cook.

So I visited a Yoder dealer this weekend. Looked at the YS480. HEAVY duty construction and beautiful design.

awesome heavy gauge rod shelving on the outside and dual shelves inside. HEAVY shield. Firepot is offset but I've read no concerns about even heat. The dealer says vacuum every 20lbs of pellet use. concerns are it is heavy for wheeling out of garage and entirely too heavy to try wheeling through grass. we don't have a covered patio and I'm not leaving a pellet grill in the elements even with a vinyl cover. Too much electronics involved.

Noticed a copy by Blazn Grills that is built with 16ga double wall construction. Interestingly the claim is the thin steel double wall construction is MORE efficient for pellet usage than heavy steel walls of the Yoder.

Blazn is about $1k plus 200 shipping for similar size to the YS480. The Yoder I can get for $1224 with no shipping (I can pick up from dealer about an hour away). it has a pull out firepot cleaning system that would be really nice...at least in theory.

Definitely don't want to spend more than these amounts. Not too much else out there grabbing my attention. Mak is just ugly and I think you're paying for a controller that does stuff I don't care about (presents, time changes, etc) and about $1700 shipped. Memphis is 2x's the cost. Traeger feels like cheap china junk even compared to my Green Mountain. Would consider the Green Mountain Daniel Boone non wifi (finding I don't care about the wifi feature on my Davy Crockett) which is about half the price of the Yoder in black with no wifi. Not sure that it has a second shelf and the front shelf is reportedly too low for easy use. also built much thinner.

Appreciate any thoughts from those experienced in pellet cooking. Could be I'm missing an important consideration? Really want good temp control, moderate smoke and reliability. Reasonable pellet efficiency would be nice too but this dealer sells Smoke Ring pellets for $17/40lbs.

[froggert]

I've got a Cookshack Fast Eddy PG-500 and really like it. The body is all stainless steel, so it sits on the back deck with a cover over it.

[berettafan]

Open deck?
I like the look of it but concerned about giving up smoker space for grilling. Already have a Weber genesis.

Are you in a dry area? Do you remove pellets after each cook?


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[froggert]

Yep, open and uncovered deck. I'm lazy and just leave the pellets in there. No issues firing up.

Just had a thought. Take a look at the Rec-Tec, too.

[berettafan]

how are the different heat zones? are you only smoking on the grate to the right? what about the top shelf?

[Rickysa]

Here is a pretty good review of most of the popular models...helped me choose


The 10 Best Pellet Smokers | Serious Eats

[tabs]

OMG....YOU ALREADY ARE LOOKING AROUND FOR SUMTHIN BETTA....that was real quick? This one ain't even brokin in yet and you are already bored with it. Hmmmmm....

Soona or later you are going to go to a off set stick burner.

[berettafan]

Terrible right?

it cooks very well honestly. probably going to get one of those steel wire carts at Sams Club to keep it on so it's at an easier height.

But let me tell you when you actually see the Yoder in person and how nicely it's built....it's hard to get it out of your mind.

[froggert]

Originally Posted by berettafan

how are the different heat zones? are you only smoking on the grate to the right? what about the top shelf?

Heat comes from the fire pot on the bottom left and circles up, over and back down. I just use the grate on the right when cooking at low temps. The top shelf gets used for things like potatoes. It's cooler than the area over the fire pot and hotter than the grate on the lower right.

[tabs]

Just gimme back my offset stick burnin smoker...






The fires of the PIT shall commence burnin on Thursday or Friday at the latest, depending on how the breaks go...


All Praises to the Pit Pig...

[tabs]

Some people have their mincy little ****** ball smokers that say Yoder on the side, but mine is a qtr and half inch steel plate that says David Klose on it.

[Alexgrills]

Have any one suggest me which i picked from this awesome Top 10 Pellet Smokers review. Thanks in advance

[glewis80SC]

We have the Yoder 640 at my fire station it is head and shoulders above Trager and Green Mountain it gets a lot of use and smokes great every time...I'm saving money to but one for home.

[lisa smith]

I had to buy the second time to choose the one I wanted, at that time I accidentally read this article the best pellet smokers, the best electric smokers, I think it is quite useful for you.
This is also an option offset smoker